February 20, 2005 Submit, Submit, Submit Yeah, yeah, I know. Give someone a digital camera, and suddenly he gets all artsy. (Or at least tries.) This was an experiment in non-light. It was taken in the basement just a few minutes ago (it's 11:30pm as I write this), in a room that, when the door is closed, the only light comes from a streetlamp up the driveway. I had to hold the camera very still, because the exposure in no light with no flash takes longer, and I didn't want something blurry, like the October Project shots I took last night. It's still a bit out-of-focus, but not terribly, I think. I took a ton of pictures tonight at my cousin Susan's birthday party, and I realize that I'm going to have to actually read the manual for the camera soon. It takes nice enough shots, but I know I'm missing something when it comes to focus and framing and the like. Not that I expect to be a photographer. That's Laurie's purview. Her mother asked her to come over and take a picture of her amarylis plant, and Laurie framed several shots that could be put up on the walls of any gallery in NYC. She used available light spilling from a window, and the shadows cast from the plant over the table (and, I believe, a pile of books) are just amazing. She does have an advantage; being the daughter of a professional photographer. She learned all about f-stops and exposure times and framing from her Dad, whose pictures I have always admired. One day in the near future, when she has moved in with her Mom, I'm going to ask to look through his catalogues. I've seen a few things here and there, but I'd like to get an overview of his entire repertoire. Of course, I'd like to take Laurie out on excursions and show me how to frame shots with the digital camera. I may do that, when the weather gets nicer (or maybe even tomorrow, when we're supposed to get about 4 inches of snow; that might be nice to take some shots that aren't of my slightly-tilted profile). I may ask Laurie to take a black and white photograph of me for an upcoming audition. Yep, an audition. It would be my first since 2002. A theater I've worked with before is holding auditions for The Compleat Works of Wm. Shakespeare, Abridged, which is one of my very favorite plays, ever. I don't have the day shift set in stone yet, but the production dates are in April, which should be enough time to get a schedule settled. I can work out the details of rehearsals (which don't usually fall on Friday nights) with a minimum of fuss. Listen to me, I'm talking about this as if I already have a part. The truth is, it's been a very long time since I've been onstage, and I know the director has people he likes to work with often, so my chances are very small. I worked with him as a fill-in for the one-act Stiff Cuffs, and he's seen me win an acting award for Sylvia, so I know he knows my range. My main worry is that he now thinks of me as more of a playwright than as an actor, and wouldn't take me too seriously. Then again, there's this part of the audition notice: "People auditioning will be required to present a story about themselves that they can tell in their most animated, engaging manner (no longer than 5 minutes)." That's what I do best. I did improv comedy for four-plus years, and most of that is creating animated, engaging stories for the audience on the spot. The fact that I have six years' worth of material written down from which to cull a story is just so much icing on the cake. I did, however, find out about this audition today (the 20th), and the auditions are set for the 21st and the 22nd. Not a lot of time to prepare, that. Plus, I'm recovering from a cold sore which, while not terribly nasty, doesn't present me at my best. Oh, I'm making excuses. I love to audition. I know that a lot of actors hate the process, but I think of it as a ten-minute, one-man show that has to capture an audience's attention. I have never left an audition unhappy, because I get to do what I love, whether I get the part or not. So I'll go. I'll probably go on Tuesday, because I have tentative plans with Laurie and with The Fabulous Robert tomorrow. I'd like to hit a matinee with Laurie, and Robert recently purchased his very first home, which I want to see. So I'll spend the morning digging through past entries, trying to come up with something to use for this part of the audition, and maybe purchase another copy of the script (my copy is in storage, and I'd end up spending all day long digging through boxes of books just to find it), just to re-familiarize myself with it. Again, I'm not expecting to get cast. However, I'll most likely run into people I know at the auditions; people with whom I haven't kept in touch for a long time. That in itself is impetus enough to try out. I got motivated today and took yesterday's entry, re-wrote parts of it, removed all the personal references, and submitted it, as well as the recent review of Survivor and a MovieXing review of Boys Don't Cry, to the editor of a local newspaper. It was just a query with examples of my writing, and since I don't have clippings, I had to do something. I mentioned that I used to write for the now-defunct iBachelor, the now defunct AustinOnLine.net (I'm apparently the kiss of death to websites) and for the Boston Phoenix (on occasion). I'm pretty sure that my essay "Bullies and Bullets" was featured in the Sacramento Bee, but it's not archived on-line (I have the hardcopy in storage), so I couldn't mention that without a date of publication. It's on Counsel Giver, but that's run by Becky, and it's sort of like saying that my brother published a story of mine in his magazine. (Though at the time, Becky and I weren't such good friends, so I suppose it holds more weight, but still...) The only other place that that particular essay appears (other than two non-violence newsletters that asked for reprint permission) is badpuppy.com (I'm not linking it, because it contains adult material which isn't safe for work), which is a legitimate venue, but kind of disturbing in that this essay about self-esteem and violence appears next to ads featuring naked men showing their shaved asses to the camera. I suppose it's no worse than being published in Maxim or the old Advocate (which used to have more sex-related ads than articles, though that has changed), but still, I didn't feel like mentioning that. A quick google search shows that my (currently defunct) MovieXing site was referenced by quite a number of other sites, which is pretty flattering. I wish they'd told me about the links, as I probably would have kept at the reviews on-line and built a more legitimate-looking site out of them. I still have all of them stored up, so I'll be sure to re-publish them once I've figured out how I want to approach this site. As of now, it's just a place for the journal and nothing else (though after a few months, I may start up the "Always" burb again). I have a domain name available for more personal/professional information, such as resumes (for acting, for writing, for professional use) and maybe something more. I just found the site of a friend of mine that's very well laid-out and I may take a cue from that for something I can give out on a job interview or in a bio of one of my plays. We'll see. I've digressed very far from where I started. The point is, I have started submitting works in earnest, and am keeping meticulous track of what went where. I currently have two short stories submitted, two plays submitted, and one query submitted. In the wings are two one-act plays to be submitted as well as more queries to other venues. (A certain publishing company may take one of my older entries, in a slightly different format, into an anthology for which I've seen a call for submissions.) I really need to buckle down and get some new work on my plate, and I do have half of a ten-minute play (which really shouldn't be taking me this long...I used to write these things as journal entries, and they've been produced) completed, but I need to make more time for that. There's just so much stuff that I've written before which can be retro-fitted to submit somewhere else. And keeping it on the site for the sake of posterity seems just a little bit dumb, at this point. I've wanted to be a published author for years, and I have been, but I want it to become a regular thing. And there's only one way to accomplish that: submit, submit, submit.